Road-scraper



(No Model.)

L. SMITH ROAD kSGMPER. i No. 292,375. Patented Jan. 22, 1884.

immuun Miren STATES PATENT 'Ormea LYMAN SMITH, or MALTA, ILLINois."

ROAD-SVCRAPER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters VPatent Nu. 292,375, dated January22, 1884.

' Application filed July 2,1883. (No model.)

'[0 all whom, it may concern;-

`Be it known'that I, LYMAN SMITH, of Malta, in the county of De Kalb andState of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inRoad-Scrapers; and I d o hereby declare that the following isl a full,clear, and exact description thereof, reference being hadjtoV theaccompanying drawings, and to the letters of referencemarked thereon,which form a part of this specification.

' This invention relates to an improvementin road-Scrapers. Its objectis to provide animproved construction in such machines; and it consistsin the matters hereinafter described, and pointed out in the claims.

In theaccompanying drawings, Figure l is a perspective View of aroad-scraper embody-` ing my invention. Fig. 2 is a plan view of thesame. .Fig. 8 is a longitudinal vertical sectiontaken upon' theV line xof Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a detail section taken upon the line y y of Fig. 2.Fig. 5 is a detail section taken upon line x x of Fig. 3.

, The main support or frame of the machine consists of a transverse beamor axle-tree, A, supported at its ends by two wheels, B, and a beam, C,attachedk rigidly at its rear 'end' to said axle, extended forward toform a tongue, which is supported at its front end by means of aneck-yoke from the collars upon the horses by which the scraper isdrawn. The

'beam A is preferably elevated above the hubs of the wheels, as shown,the axles being secured to depending brackets a upon the ends ofthebeam.

' D is the scraper, which is arranged in an inclined position at therear of the wheels B, and is rigidly attached to the rear ends of twobeams, E, which converge to a point near the front end of the tongue C,and are secured rigidly together at their front, ends by a loopbar, e,and attached flexibly to the said tongue by the engagement Aof thesaidloop lwith an eye, c, upon the under side of said tongue. Draft isapplied directly to the scraper by 'means of a double-tree, E2, which isconnected to the beams E at a point near the scraper by means of a rod,E', connected, as shown, at its ends tosaid beams by means of bolts e.The machine is intended to be drawn by two horses harnessed upon eitherside of the tongue, singletrees e2 being connected to the double-tree E2for this purpose.

F is the drivers seat, which is supported above and slightly to the rearofV the scraper byvmeans of a bar, G, rigidly attached at its frontendto the tongue-the said seat being so placed that the operator, wheninthe seat, can readilyrest his feet upon the top edge of the scraper.Beneath the seat, and'pivoted at its front end to the rear end of thetongue, is albar, H, the rear end o`f which is supported by acaster-wheel, J, mounted in a pivoted standard, I. The bar His connectedtothe end of the tongue, so as to permit a vertical play at its outerend only, the connecting devices, as shown, consisting of two sideplates, 7L, bolted to the bar H, and secured to therearwardly-projecting end of the tongue by means of a pivot-bolt, h?,passing horizontally through their projecting ends and the saidprojecting end of the tongue.

For the purpose of lifting the scraper D in transporting the machine,and in order to independently control the elevation of either end ofthescraper, devices are provided as fol; lows: Up'on the top of the beam Aare mounted standards K, and levers L are pivotally attached to thetongue at their front ends, and project rearwardly in position to begrasped by the driver, said levers being connected to the beams E bymeans of chains or ropes Z,

'secured at their ends to said levers and beams,

respectively, and passing over pulleys k, mountedin the upper ends ofthe standards K. The levers L are arranged: tov move between two sideplates composing the standards K, and one of said plates in eachstandard is provided with a notched segment, lc', and the saidhand-levers with a spring-detent, Z', constructed to engage said notchedsegments, so that the levers may be set in any position desired, and thescraper held perma` nently at a required elevation from the ground,according to the work tobe done. The pivotal connection between thefront ends'of the levers L and the tongue Gis preferably formed by meansof a plate, L', bolted to the top of said tongue, andl havinglaterally-projecting arms, upon which the said levers are'pivoted, asshown.

Diagonal bracesC are bolted to the tongue C and beamAyas shown, for' thepurpose of giving' requisite rigidity to the frame, and curved rods orbraces h are rigidly attached to the rear end of the bar H, and areconnected to the rear side of the beam A near the ends thereof bypivotal joints h?, so as to permit a free vertical movement to the outerend of said bar.

rlhe scraper D is preferably composed of a heavy plank about a footwide, placed in avertical position upon its edge, and having aforwardly-projecting cutter-blade, D, secured to the lower edge. As ameans of securing the blade D to the plank D, a forwardly-projectinginclined piece, d, is secured to the lower edge of the said plank bymeans of vertical bolts d', to the upper face of which the said blade issecured by means ofbolts di. ln the use of a cutter-blade such asdescribed it is found to become worn to a bevel upon its under side, andwith a sharp edge at its upper surn face. ln order to utilize this sharpedge, I have found it desirable to reverse the blade, so as to bring thesharp edge downward and in position to enter the ground. For thispurpose the bolts d, by which the said blade is secured to the piece d,are arranged symmetrically with reference to the ends or center of theblade, so that it may be turned end for end, and the bolts will fit theaperture therefor. This construction is shown in Fig. 5, in which asingle central bolt is used with two bolts at equal distances uponeither side of it. The scraper D preferably extends beyond the wheels atboth sides of the machine, thus enabling the machine to operate to theouter margin of a road. y

The beams E are secured to the scraper at points near the ends thereof,the means of connection shown consisting of straps passing around theupper portion of the plank D, and having their ends secured to the upperand lower faces of the said beams by means of the bolts c', by which thedraft-rod E is secured thereto. The beams E, to which the scraper isattached, are ilexibly connected to the tongue at their front ends, sothat the scraper is free to swing laterally, and may be thrown either tothe left or to the right, so as to bring the scraper more nearly squareacross the path of the machine, to hold the dirt and carry it to a givenpoint where it is to be discharged; or it may be placed at a greaterangle, whereby the dirt is deflected laterally in the forward movementof the machine. rlhe lateral movement mentioned is given to the scraperby the feet of the driver, who sits in the seat astride the caster-beam,with his feet upon the top of the scraper, as before mentioned. For thepurpose of limiting the side motion of the scraper, chains- E aresecured to the sides of the beams E and to the depending portions a ofthe beam A, as shown, and the said beams are thereby prevented fromcoming into contact with the vsupporting-wheels B. The machine ispreferably so arranged that when the scraper is down and its weight issupported by the ground, the tongue will balance the weight of thedriver,

and the seat F will be above the bar H and in the position shown in Fig.3. The purpose of the pivoted bar H and the caster-wheel described is tosupport the weight of the driver at the time the scraper is lifted fromthe ground, and to thereby prevent the end ofthe tongue from beingthrown upward by his weight and by the weight of the scraper at suchtime. The seat for this purpose is so placed that it will be a shortdistance above the said bar when the scraper is resting upon the ground,so that the outer end of the tongue will be lifted to a slight extentonly before the seat rests upon the said bar. By the flexible attachmentof the bar H with the tongue the implement will also adjust itself toirregulari ties in the roadway, and the braces h', ilexibly attached tothe beam A, move with the bar H and secure it from lateral movementinallpo` sitions. y

rl`he lifting-levers L operating independently, as described, either endof the scraper may be elevated, as desired, and it may be supported atany angle or elevation, according to the conformation desired in thesurface of the road, to the depth to be cut, the strength of the team,or other necessities of the case.

By locating the seat as described, the driver, by keeping his feet uponthe top of the scraper, is not only enabled to move it laterally, but,by throwing his weight more or less upon the scraper or upon one endthereof, may control its action, according to the condition of theground or its hardness in different places.

My invention is not restricted to the particular means shown forindependently lifting the ends of the scraper; but any well-knownsuitable device may be used for the purpose. Any other means than thatshown for connecting the double-tree with the scraper may be used. Therods E may, for instance, be connected to the scraper itself instead ofto the beams E. A desirable construction in such case would be to passthe ends of said rod through the vertical part of the scraper and-secure it thereto by nuts upon its ends.

The construction described in the scraper presents a great advantage inpoint of simplicity and cheapness, aside from the advantage arising fromthe reversibility'of the cutter-bladc, as before fully set forth.

I claim as my inventionl. The combination, with a supportingframemounted upon two wheels and projecting forward of the same, a scraper,D, located at the rear of the supporting-wheels, and means for liftingsaid scraper, of a rearwardlyprojecting bar, H, iiexibly secured tol theframe, a caster-wheel, J, mounted upon said bar, and means (as G) uponthe frame constructed to engage the said bar, .whereby the upwardmovement of the front end of the frame is limited, substantially as andfor the purposes set forth.

2. The combination, with a supportingframeY mounted npon'two wheels, ascraper, D, located at the rear of said wheels, and

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means for lifting said scraper, of a rearwardlyprojecting pivoted bar,H, a caster-Wheel, J, upon said bar, a seat, F, and arearwardlyprojecting seat-arm, G, secured at its front 5 end to the saidframe, substantially as described.

3. The combination, with the beam A, the tongue C, rigidly attachedthereto, and the supporting-Wheels B, of the pivoted casterro beam Handbraces h', attached to said bar, and

pivotally connected to the beam A, substantially as and forthe purposeset forth.

4. The combination, with the beam A, the tongue C, rigidly attachedthereto, and with 15 the supportingwheels B, of a scraper, D, beams E,rigidly attached to the scraper and LYMAN SMITH.

Vitnesses:

M. E. DAYTON, JEssE Cox, Jr.

